Saberi’s Side of the Story

Posted on May 28, 2009

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi just got back to the States following six years in Iran, the last four of which she spent in prison under an allegation of spying—a charge she initially confessed to but later recanted. Saberi recounted her story on Thursday’s edition of “All Things Considered” on NPR, one of the outlets for which she reported while in Iran.

NPR:

Well, first of all, I should explain, I was taken to Evin prison that first evening because I was told that if I don’t cooperate, if I don’t confess to being a spy, that I would be taken to Evin that evening. And because I did not want to make a false confession and say that I was a spy, they took me to Evin prison that evening. I was allowed to call my parents about 11 days later, after I told my interrogators, “Please let me call my father, at least, to let him know that I’m alive.” And they forced me to tell him a lie — to tell him that I didn’t know where I was and that I had been arrested for alcohol, but these were not true.